It must be true, an American intelligence agency says so.

JULY 15, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

This is one ugly story!

[START]

USS Liberty - Israeli
Pilot Speaks Up

7-14-3

"We had been surveilled all morning and part of the afternoon by
Israeli forces. They knew who we were. We heard them reporting over
radio who we were and how we were sailing and where we were sailing.
They saw the flag and everything else. We were in international
waters."

Adlai Stevenson supported USS Liberty

Senator Adlai Stevenson III in 1980, his last year as a United States
Senator from Illinois, invited Jim Ennes to his Senate office for a
private, two hour meeting to discuss the USS Liberty attack and
coverup. Following the private meeting, Ennes was invited back the
next day to discuss the attack with members of Stevenson's staff,
along with members of the staff of Senator Barry Goldwater and
members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

In that meeting, staff members told Ennes that they found his story
convincing, but that they would recommend to both senators that they
not pursue an investigation because an investigation would only
antagonize Israeli interests while "nothing good could come of it."
Goldwater accepted that staff recommendation. Stevenson did not.
Instead, Stevenson called a news conference in which he announced
that he was convinced that the attack was deliberate and that the
survivors deserved an investigation. He would, he said, spend the
remaining few weeks of his Senate term attempting to arrange for an
inquiry.

Almost immediately, the government of Israel contacted the White
House and offered to settle the outstanding $40million damage claims
for $6million an amount equal to one dollar for each Jewish victim of
the Holocaust. Vice President Walter Mondale quickly agreed to that
offer just before Christmas while Congress and President Carter were
on vacation. The Department of State followed immediately with a
press release, reported on the front page of the New York Times,
which announced, "The book is now closed on the USS Liberty."

Indeed, from that point on, it was impossible to generate any
congressional interest in the Liberty at all. Senator Stevenson's
staff told me later that they felt the settlement was directly
related to Senator Stevenson's announced plan to hold an inquiry, and
was engineered to block forever any inquiry plans. Israel did
subsequently pay $6million in three annual installments of $2million
each. Secretary of State Dean Rusk said later that he considered the
payments meaningless, as Congress merely increased the annual Israeli
allotment by that amount.

Adlai Stevenson later ran for Governor of Illinois. He was strongly
opposed by Israeli and Jewish interests. He lost. Many feel it was
his support for the Liberty that cost him the election. Many also
feel it was Stevenson's experience with the Liberty that has
intimidated other Members of Congress who might otherwise support the
survivors.

[STOP]

__________________








Israel's Attack On USS Liberty -
The Truth About America's 'Ally'
Exclusive Interview By Pravda.ru
Questions By Justin Cowgill
7-7-2

On June 8, 1967, 34 American sailors of the USS Liberty lost their lives serving their country. These Americans died when Israel, America's "ally," launched a murderous attack on the virtually unarmed American intelligence ship. To this day, many Americans are unaware that this attack even took place. Recently, PRAVDA.Ru had the opportunity to interview Mr. Hrankowski, a survivor and crew member of the USS Liberty.

___

Greetings Mr. Hrankowski! We at PRAVDA.Ru greatly appreciate this exclusive interview. We feel that, as a USS Liberty survivor, you are in the unique position to shed light on actually what happened and why. It is a great tragedy that 34 young American sailors died while serving their country. It is a even greater tragedy that the general public knows next to nothing about this event.

What position did you serve on the USS Liberty?

My position on the USS Liberty was in the Engineering Department. I was a boilerman. I also worked for the chief engineer in the log room office.

One of the main questions regarding this attack is whether or not the Israeli attackers knew that they were attacking an American ship. The Israelis have claimed that they misidentified the Liberty for the Egyptian horse carrier El Quseir, but it has been reported that the USS liberty flew an American flag and was distinctly marked with US markings. It is also known that slow moving recon plans flew over the USS Liberty numerous times. Is there any doubt in your mind that the Israeli military knew that they were attacking an American ship?

There is no doubt in my mind that the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty was deliberate. Israel has claimed that it was a mistake and that they were firing upon an arab horse freighter. The El Quesir was the name of the Arab ship. It was tied up and not sea worthy during the Six Day War, and the Israelis knew this.

As for our Flag. All American ships fly the flag. Ours was flying until the Israelis shot it down and within seconds another was put up. It was our holiday Ensign, sized 9 feet by 13 feet.

As for the slow moving aircraft. Planes started flying over us and checking us out at 5:30am and did so 9 to 13 times until the attack at 2:00PM. There is no doubt in my mind that they knew who they were attacking.


It has been reported that the USS Saratago, responding to a SOS from the Liberty, launched jets to help the Liberty approximately 15 minutes into the Israeli attack. Why were the jets recalled? One could say that this act left American sailors to be murdered by an enemy force?


A message from the USS Liberty got to the USS Saratoga 9 minutes into the attack. The USS Saratoga launched a flight of fighters immediately and they were called back. This happened three different times throughout the attack. Robert MacNamara called them back twice, and President Johnson called them back once, saying his thoughts were not for the USS Liberty. He did not want to embarrass his ally Israel. That act did leave us to get murdered, and what it actually is called is abandonment.

Once your captain, William Loren McGonagle, realized that the Liberty was in danger of sinking, he ordered the crew to abandon ship. At this point, there were only three life rafts left that weren't damaged. Your crew placed as many wounded into the life rafts and lowered them over the side of the Liberty. Please tell us what happened next.


The order was given by the captain to abandon ship, because he thought we were going to sink. Three life rafts were in the water, but then Israeli Torpedo boats came up to them and shot two of them up and grabbed one on the boats. That is against the Geneva Convention.


What prompted the Israelis to terminate their assault?

I'm not sure what caused them to terminate the attack, but after 2 hours, they could not sink us. I would think that their time had run out.

How long did it take for American help to arrive?

It took 16 hours for the American fleet to get to us. But that night, while we were sailing to the sixth fleet, a Soviet ship offered help to us. They said that they would stay just at the horizon and if our ship was going to go down, they would help us.

In a recent letter to President Bush, survivor Phillip F. Tourney claimed that the crew of the USS Liberty were "ordered to remain silent under threat of court martial, imprisonment, or worse, and we all know what worst meant." Did you yourself experience such threats?

Admiral Kidd was the one who ordered us silent. That was a direct order to all of the crew. I heard it myself that day.


If what has been reported is true, the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty can only be described as deliberate. In your opinion, why did this attack take place?

As for why the Israelis attacked us, I'm not sure. I would not be able to give you a reason, because it would only be a guess. There is a new film out by the BBC called Dead in the Water. It was released in England on 6-10-02 and it gives some startling new evidence as to why the attack happened.


Has the American government considered reinvestigating the attack?

There are a few Congressional personal interested in helping us. We're hoping that they are really willing.

It would seem that this event has been covered up. Giving all the information that has come forth and the testimony of such people as Secretary of State Dean Rusk and former JCS Chairman Admiral Thomas Moorer, the version that this attack was a mistake is very hard believe, which means that it was covered up for some reason. Why, in your opinion, was such a tragic event as an attack on US sailors covered up?

You ask if the USS Liberty attack was covered up. My answer is simple: yes, it was. The question still remains today as to why. And with a Congressional Investigation, all the facts should be laid out and the reasons known.

Your commanding officer, Captain William Loren McGonagle, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his services to his country. However, unlike tradition, when the president of the United States bestows the Congressional Medal of Honor, Captain McGonagle was awarded his medal in the Washington Navy Yard. In your opinion, why wasn't your captain awarded the medal according to tradition?

Our Captain did receive the Congressional Medal of Honor but not in the White house like it usually is given, but in a shipyard in Washington DC. Not many of us knew that he got it until many years later. On his written citation, there is no mention that Israel was the attackers. The same goes for all of our medals and citations; the Israelis are not mentioned at all.


In your opinion, if the general American public were to become fully aware of Israel's attack on the Liberty, could this affect the "special" relationship that America shares with its "ally" Israel? For instance, if many Americans learned of the attack and the cover-up, they might be less willing to bankroll Israel with financial and military aid.

I'm not sure if that would happen. I think that if the truth be known about the attack it would hurt for a little while, but it would be a piece of history finally put to bed.

Do you keep in contact with fellow Liberty survivors? If so, do they express hope that American will reinvestigate the attack?

We USS Liberty survivors are always in contact. We all fight for the same thing. They want the investigation to happen soon, so we can all go on with our lives.

Is there anything else that you would like to add?

I thank PRAVDA.Ru for the time to express my views of the June 8, 1967 attack on my ship, the USS Liberty. I do hope your country will be able to see the new film by the BBC Dead in the Water by Mr. Christopherer Mitchell. There is also a new book that goes along with the new film. It was written by Pulitzer Prize winner Mr. Peter Hounam and is due to come out very shortly. The film and book open the incident up very well.


Mr. Hrankowski can be contacted at the following address:

John Hrankowski 45 Drumcliff Way Rochester, New York 14612 USA 1-585-225-0385  http://www.ussliberty.com

 http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/04/31794.html







________




________

Plain and Simple... of course a US hearing finds that this was an accident...

Israel practically dicatates US foreign policy... what makes you think this coverup will be any differant.

Israel is a terrorist nation full of horrible little people who are trying their damnest to control the world

Israel-Judah-Judea has the only united, independent, sovereign nation-state that ever existed in "Palestine" west of the Jordan River. Israel has a right to defend its waters from ANY group that attempts to act as terrorist against the soil of israel, our land and our peoples.

Israel would not attack an ally such as the USA. The liberty was a spy ship and as such did not identify itself and was presumed to be a threat. It was not identified as American. It was fired upon after it refused to be escorted from Israeli controled Seas.

Israel is a legitimate state and will not be pushed into accepting otherwise by people that know nothing of the blood shed for a jewish homeland.

You thought this was a "progressive" site didn't u?

Quite clearly, it's actually a neo-Nazi site.

..israel maybe a nasty little state, but that is the result of decisions taken over the heads of the majority of the people there.

It is not full of people trying to take over the world. The people there are on the whole no different from you or I.

What is different is the fact that it, and the philosophies it embodies and projects, is the 'spearhead' of the new world order brigade (yes, they do exist - PNAC has killed of any doubt about that!).

This has nothing to do with judaeism. Or armaggeddon. Or any other crypto-religious notions - they are the vehicles for the word viruses that capture the hearts and minds of too many here on earth.

Generalisations based on perceptions of belief, ethnicity and class are weapons used against progressive thinkers and people who believe it would be nicer to be nicer.

A very large number of israelis are as engaged in the process of peace and are barely represented outside of their immeadiate circles for doing so.

The evidence against the israeli authorities in the USS Liberty is not a watertight case - but it floats well enough for a landlubber like me to board it!

Lets concentrate on nailing those responible rather than being waylaid by artificial divisions and xenophobia.

Everytime someone hears something about 'Jewish interests', any notion of Jewish conspiracies or control (perhaps with the word Zionist instead to make it more PC), the person should be immediately called an anti-semite and a racist by any sane person, especially left wing people. And by the way to all people interested in Israel-Palestine, try reading the opposite side's point of view a bit (not just articles or columns, flick through a few books). You will find that the whole story is VERY complicated and both side lies, have bad histories they don't like to mention, etc. Its up to you who you think is less bad than the other and has a better case.

For example the 1948 expulsions, some were ordered by the Arab armies to flee, some fled through terror and fear, some were expelled. Atrocities were not exclusive to either side. At the same time 100,000s of Jews were expelled or fled from the Arab countries. You might also do well to remember that this was just three years after the Holocaust was revealed to the world, and the world was swept with sympathy for Jews, and had the Arab tyrannies had their way, just three years after the end of the Holocaust, there may well have been another.

The whole thing frankly has been a tragedy for both sides. And to those whom demonise the Zionists, it is hardly an evil wish to have a homeland where Jews could live without fear of oppression or pogroms (remember Zionism started in the 19th Century - hell of a lot of anti-semitism, hell of a lot of pogroms). There were/are a lot of bad elements within Zionism: racialism, anti-assimilationism, nationalism, bad attitude to the Arabs sometimes, etc, but Zionism was also secular and quite closely linked to anarchism and many anarchists were Zionists and established collectives and so on. Even if Zionism were as bad, colonialist etc as the pro-Palestinians claim, can you really blame them given the situation of Jews all over the world at the time? Why only sympathy with one side?

Even today the issues are not simple. For instance settler expansion, its not that great - grabbing land off the Palestinians, superiority in water supplies and settler-only roads, nationalist/religious stuff (historical Israel and things), but at the same time, these settler Jews are mostly coming from places like Eastern Europe and Russia where there is terrible anti-semitism. Its ridiculous to only look at this whole thing from one point of view only.

Oh and btw in case anyone accuses me of being a Zionist or something I'm not a Zionist I look at both sides and don't side with anyone over the other.

Well, I agree with what was said above. There is certainly a reason why the Israelis have done the things they have done, and this has given them far more sympathy in people's eyes than say, the attitude we have towards the Indonesians, and various other oppressive regimes. I think a reason there is such a campaign against what Israel is doing is in fact the closeness of our two cultures. Israel is the Western World in the middle-east, and America is giving them an unprecidented level of support.
The Jews were expelled from the Arab States. But this was due to the colonisation by the ZIonists in Palestine. I'm not saying its right, I think the situation would be better now if the Arabs had not reacted in that way. But bear in mind that the Arab reaction is essentially a reaction to people who came to their land, and stole them, with the intention FROM THE START of stealing them, and forming a Jewish State, of the sort outlined by Theodor Herzl. The Arabs aren't stupid. They can read, and they did read, and Herzl's book very much contributed to the way they reacted to the Jewish immigration. They knew the Jews intended to create their homeland in the Arab land of Palestine.
Prior to this, the Jewish situation, although not ideal anywhere, was much better in Arab lands than in European lands. Anti-Semitism is mainly a Western idea, and we are responsible for terrible pogroms and genocides. But not the Arabs, who practiced greater religious tolerance. So why is it the Arabs who have had to pay the price of European anti-semitism? The British gave away a land that was not theirs to give, for our own greed and self-interest. Our empire has a lot to answer for, all around the world, in fact.

So I think simply throwing around the words Zionist Conspiracy is wrong, in the sense that people imagine some sinister plot of maybe magical blood-drinking men sitting around tables in castles and plotting the destruction of the world. However, a conspiracy of sorts does exist. There are countless conspiracies, some opposing others. Its called the world of international politics, where allies conspire with each other for political gain. So, its well known that the Jewish lobby is very powerful. They 'conspire' with the Christian right, and get the unprecedented level of support they enjoy. Previously, the zionists had 'conspired' with the British imperial rulers to get the famous 'Balfour Declaration'. The idea that they rule the world is ridiculous. The US is trying to do so, and is failing. But of course, within that neo-conservative group of people, who seek global domination, are a number of Jewish zionists. The neo-cons are very open about their ambitions for global domination. Just check out 'The project for a New American Century'. Can you not see how these fears have their root in some very real happenings?

And that, in the Muslim world, which was never responsible for the holocaust, and therefore does not feel the guilt we feel as Westerners, anti-semitism can easily take root and crystallise. When you add a dose of religious fanaticism, you get the sort of anti-semitism that we sometimes see, which is so terrifying and hateful, but which has its root in a very real injustice, the stealing of their lands by the Jews, and the wars being waged in their lands on behalf of the Neo-Cons.

There are other 'conspiracies' as well. Do not forget the Islamic Fundamentalist conspiracy, with the likes of Al Qaeda, and who seek global domination as well. The fact they are hidden, and seemingly have links to some powerful, wealthy figures, certainly fits the sterotype of 'conspiracy' to me. The difference is that they are not yet as successful as the Neo-Con conspiracy, which is so successful, its actually out in the open, and its leaders plain to see. There's also the biggest conspiracy of all. Global Capitalism. It involves the leaders of every country in the world, to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. What else do you call the G8 summits, but a big conspiracy.

I don't know what planet 'Sigh' is on, but it is not anti semitic to be fundamentally opposed to zionism. It is also not anti semitic to question the way israel operates in the international arena or the way its leaders attempt to usurp US foriegn policy for their own advantage. Being against israel but being pro palestine does not make a person an anti semite, for the palestinians are themselves a semitic people.

Questioning zionism and the actions of the Israeli state is not antisemitic. Nor is it anti semitic to question the hive mind mentality of the jewish people.

Hating Jews for no other reason then them being Jewish, Is antisemitic.

"Nor is it anti semitic to question the hive mind mentality of the jewish people."
Unbelievable racism, ignorance and HYPOCRISY in the above comment!


"I'm not anti-Semitic, but Jewish people have a hive-mind mentality!" is exactly the same as "I'm not anti-Arab, but all Arabs are suicide bombers!"


How stupid can you get? He doesn't contradict himself in a different post, he contradicts himself in the same post!

So for me to say that 'Americans' have a hive mind mentality because they confuse being patriotic to their nation with 'blindly following' the insane imperialist nature of the current administration, makes me a racist towards americans does it?

Of course not.

Questioning the behaviour of other nations, peoples and races isnt racist. Hating them because of who they are IS.